Synthesis Essay

Philosophy provides us, students, the tools we need to critically examine our lives and our world. In Philosophy, relativism is a popular theme for philosophical debates and it has different faces like cultural relativism, constructivism, conceptual and etc. With these different faces, do you still know or do you even know what philosophers are debating about? For me, each society have different norms and beliefs, we cannot just accuse them that what they're doing is wrong or right (based on our beliefs) because they live in a different society. 

Philosophy also tackles topics like human person and logical fallacies. As a human person, we are invested to socialize and be who we are. We are created with God’s own image and therefore, we should take care of ourselves because it’s not only our own image we are protecting but also God’s. We have the dignity which is valuable and priceless. We have the human rights that we should be aware of as a social being. It will serve as our protection against unjust treatment and situation. Pointing out a logical fallacy is a way of removing an argument from the debate rather than just weakening it. Learning logical fallacies will not just give us idea on how to talk back or point out a non-sense answer by others but, it will help us to think critically on how to deliver and reason out legit and sensible answers. By doing it, we don’t just look like smart, but we are smart. Human person possesses ability to think and reason out. Therefore, critical thinking will help an individual to give a good criticism and a careful judgment.

As a social being, philosophy helps us to become aware of what our human rights are. Human rights are what we can use to protect our dignity and benefits that we can get from it.  Bill of rights is a charter of liberties for the individual and a limitation upon the power of the state. We have our political rights which pertain to individual’s participation in the government. We have our civil rights which apply to individuals to undertake the everyday business of life. We have legal rights which apply to individuals when subjected to the law and/or legal procedures and processes.

Ethics also helps us students to learn moral judgments.  Ethics is a widespread principle which is observed in every professional field and human daily life. Bioethics, a study of morality in relation to medicine, genetics, and other science advancements concerning the importance of life such as surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, abortion, mercy killing, stem cell therapy and etc. It gives us ideas on how these procedures promote or prevent life and what makes ethical and unethical. Nuclear testing also gives negative and positive side effects not only to humans but also in our environment. Work ethics is also applied on individuals who have jobs. These are code of conduct that should be observed, what one must do and what must not be done. But sometimes, when law and human rights are involved, such principles from the code of conduct can be violated, depending on the situation. When individuals, especially female and children, are violated such as sexual harassment and abuse, we have the right to fight for what have taken from us. In our everyday lives, cheating, lying and breaking promises are frequently done. Learning the benefits and consequences of these, we realize that ethics is really part of humankind.

Philosophy and Ethics will help us to think wisely, to communicate effectively (like debating or arguing), and to find legit evidences or proof regarding a certain issue, to help us appreciate the points of others and most of all, it will teach us how to respect other's views and opinions. Everything that we'll learn from Philosophy and Ethics will be a lifelong benefit to us.